U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Cincinnati have seized three large shipments from China that contained fake Apple AirPods which are estimated to be worth around $7.16 million.

A total of 36,000 fake AirPods have been seized, each shipment containing 12,000 units. Although each package had a declared value of $5,280, the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for all the AirPods would have been $7.16 million had they been genuine.

In the official statement released by the US CBP, it says that after consulting with an import specialist from CBP’s Center of Excellence and Expertise, the items were found to be in violation of CBP trademark and copyright codes and were seized on May 11 and 13.

It goes on to explain that Apple has configuration trademarks on their AirPods and has recorded those trademarks with CBP. It also adds that a company does not have to put the “Apple” wordmark or design on their products to violate these trademarks. In this instance, further inspection of the earbuds revealed that their shape and design replicated the protected Apple configuration.

Apple AirPods is one of the bestselling products from the tech giant with shipments of about 114 million units in 2020. The company has a dedicated anti-counterfeit team working which is tasked with the removal of knock-off Apple products. Last year, the team managed to take down more than a million product listings for fake Apple goods.

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Apple released the AirPods Pro last week with Active Noise Cancelling and a hefty $249 price tag. The first two generations of the AirPods received a tremendous response and the Pro model is also getting rave reviews. Personally, we loved its noise-canceling and overall fit and sound quality.

However, just like every other popular Apple product in the market, the launch of the AirPods Pro also gave rise to fake AirPods Pro models in the market.

And today, we take a closer look at one of the first FAKE AirPods Pro in the market: APods Pro. It’s so similar to the AirPods Pro that you’ll have a hard time figuring out which one is the real deal. Don’t worry though, we’ll point out a few subtle differences to ensure you can differentiate between the two.

APods Pro Case is almost identical to the original AirPods Pro Case

It’s been just over a week since the AirPods Pro was officially announced in the market. Yet, the APods Pro has managed to copy the original Pro model’s case and earbud design, down to the fit and pop-up notification on the iPhone!

Starting off with the case, the APods Pro looks exactly like the original AirPods Pro case. The Apple case is a bit more polished than the fake ones, but in general, it’s hard to tell them apart. Down below, you get the same USB-C port like the original Apple AirPods Pro. However, come to the back, and you’ll see the “Designed By Apple In California” text on the back of the original AirPods Pro case. The fake APods Pro case has no writing.

If you think things are going to get easier to distinguish between the two after opening up the case, you are wrong. The APods Pro earbuds look nearly identical to the original Apple Pro earbuds. However, there are a few subtle differences to tell them apart.

For example, when you open up the APods Pro case, the two cavities that house the two earbuds are a bit different. While the fake case has oval cavities, the original AirPods Pro have rounder cavities. Also, the fake ones open only up to 90 degrees while the original AirPods Pro case can open nearly up to 120 degrees.

Another major difference is the notification LED light on the left earbud. The fake APods Pro comes with a Blue LED light that shines when charging in the case or when you take it out to connect to your iPhone. In comparison, the original Apple AirPods Pro has no notification light.

The APods Pro Earbuds are even more similar to the original AirPods Pro

One surprise was that the APods Pro managed to mimic the original AirPods’ pop-up notification on the iPhone when you opened the case. It looks close to the real deal!

When you take out the fake APods Pro, the head and steam are designed to ensure it looks very close to the original AirPods Pro. The fake earbuds are lighter than the original ones, but design-wise, it gets full marks in mimicking Apple’s design. You won’t be able to easily differentiate between this knockoff and the original one.

But there are two differences that set them apart. The charging contacts at the bottom are slightly different and the nozzles are also quite different. The original AirPods Pro comes with a black nozzle while the fake one has a traditional white nozzle.

However, in terms of fit, the APods Pro comes very close to the original Apple earbuds.

Editor’s Pick: Xiaomi’s Mi Watch Is An Apple Watch Running WearOS

APods Pro Sound Quality Is TERRIBLE

With so many similarities, you would have probably hoped that the APods Pro at least had decent sound quality.

But like most fake or knockoff Apple products in the market, the APods Pro sound terrible! The sound output is hollow and bass is non-existent. In case you are wondering, there’s no active noise canceling either. I guess they spent so much time copying the design that the ran out of budget for a decent pair of sound drivers inside.

So please don’t think about buying the APods Pro for its sound quality.

On a positive note, the APods Pro has a pretty strong Bluetooth connection and the latency is pretty good as well. So you shouldn’t have trouble gaming on your phone using these earbuds.

APods Pro Is Cheap!

The APods Pro is cheap at $54. However, unless you are really looking for something that’s identical to the original AirPods Pro, we can’t recommend buying the APods Pro.

At $59, there are much better alternatives in terms of sound quality (even Xiaomi’s AirDots Pro is so much better sounding than this).

UP NEXT: Xiaomi Mi Watch vs Apple Watch Series 5 vs Huawei Watch GT 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 : Specs Comparison

The post Fake AirPods Pro Hands-On Review: $59 KnockOff Earbuds gets very close to the real deal appeared first on Gizmochina.